ESSEX County Council has welcomed a new Government campaign, the ‘National Year of Reading’, following the success of its own Essex Year of Reading.

The National Year of Reading was recently launched at 10 Downing Street. It aims to inspire the nation to rediscover the joy of reading.

It follows the hugely successful Essex Year of Reading, which ran throughout the county between 2022 and 2023 and helped raise reading ages across the county.

The campaign was launched by children’s author Frank Cotterell-Boyce, who is the Waterstones Children’s Laureate from 2024 to 2026. It was also supported by Colchester-born writer and TV presenter, Dermot O’Leary. 

The campaign involved a visit by Her Majesty The Queen to Colchester Library to hear from local schoolchildren about the Essex Year of Reading and listen to a special reading of Alice in Wonderland.

The Essex Year of Reading was the forerunner for the Essex Year of Numbers and the current Essex Year of Opportunity.

The Essex Year of Opportunity is a £1.33 million campaign for 2025 and 2026. Through projects and partnerships with businesses, it removes barriers into work and education for all ages by teaching essential skills.

Commenting on the Essex Year of Reading’s success, Councillor Tony Ball, Essex County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education Excellence, Lifelong Learning and Employability said: “I am so proud of the Essex Year of Reading and its achievements. It was a standout campaign in so many ways. Everyone needs strong reading and writing skills so they can not only communicate well, but to open up a new world of learning.

“There were so many opportunities for children to become confident readers, from school interventions to community events. We distributed 160,000 free library cards for primary school pupils, hosted author visits from Dermot O’Leary and Michael Rosen and many other initiatives.”

He continued: “It’s wonderful that a campaign that was started here in Essex is taking a similar form and being rolled out across the country. This will not only continue to support the children of Essex, but every child in the UK.”

The Essex Year of Reading was set up by Essex County Council’s Essex Education Taskforce and invested £1 million in reading to support children and young people affected by the loss of learning and missed opportunities during the COVID pandemic. 

The campaign aimed to ensure that every Essex child would leave school able to read at their age level or above.

Some of the Essex Year of Reading’s highlights included:

• Launched a free app full of reading material, advice and guidance

• Created filmed story time sessions featuring local people, from zookeepers to fire fighters

• Set up book swaps in schools

• Ran a challenge to get children to read in unusual places, from handstands to paddleboards

• Organised storytelling and poetry competitions

• Set up reading and writing opportunities between schoolchildren and care home residents

• Published a book full of new reading material to celebrate the legacy of the campaign

To discover more about the Essex Year of Opportunity, visit: www.essex.gov.uk/news/2025/essex-year-opportunity

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